Lights Out by Nine @ Hoochie Coochie - June 30

John Frame (vocals); John Beresford (trumpet); Paul Haddow (trombone); George Morrison (tenor sax); Alan Kyle (guitar, backing vocals); John Stevenson (keyboards, backing vocals); Dougie Hunter (bass, backing vocals); Malc Herpich (drums)

A top soul band, a hip venue and Coors at £3 a pint - get there early to get a seat was the uppermost thought in my mind. For some unfathomable reason it wasn't the uppermost thought in many other people's mind - their loss and a more tangible one for Warren!

This was better than your average Scottish white band, in fact LOBN can hold their own against any average band of whatever colour or country as was proven right from the get go when Morrison blew the first of many blistering tenor solos on his own Chapter 26. He could have been walking the bar in downtown Philly. Honking and wailing with the best of them. For me he was the star in a band nigh on full of stars.

After the opening instrumental, Chapter 26, vocalist Frame took centre stage where he remained for the most of the evening singing band originals, covers of soul classics, James  Brown inspired numbers, Pick up the Pieces by that other average white band - The Average White Band - and a host of others.

The horn section delivered the big fat sound so definitive of this brand of soul the quasi-Dixie sound on Laughing on the Other Side was out of this world! Bass, drums, guitar and keys set a groove that made your feet itch yet, despite this latter symptom, St Vitus didn't show and nor did any of the Dervishes who normally shake it and break it on the Hoochie dance floor. Even a renowned double left footed blogger such as myself could have made like last night's star at York, Junior Laniyan, such was the inspirational terpsichorean groove. 

It was a blast and if I've overused the word average it is in no way a reflection on the music which was way way above average nor the audience which was way way below average. 

Catch them if and when you can - Lance

Chapter 26; Love by Numbers; Better Than Nothing; Congo Square; Workin' on it; Mr Brown; Take it or Leave it; Laughing on the Other Side; Life During Wartime; Why Did You do it?; Love and Happiness; Pick up the Pieces; Superstition; Diggin' on James Brown; Wrap it up.